Recent media consumption

I don't think I live within convenient driving distance of a real movie theater anymore. You know, one that has stadium seating and first-run movies. That limits what I'm actually seeing, since I now have the time and freedom to catch the occasional film.

Instead, I have been checking out movies and shows from the library like mad! They have the largest selection I have ever seen (or imagined) at a public library. Incredibly well curated too. The librarian that managed the collection must have been a mad, mad genius.

So far...

Serenity (film)

Yes, I know. I have seen it four times now, but it never fails to hurt when Wash...Oh, don't make me get weepy now. I'm a little embarrassed by how much dialog and expression from the ,movie and show have worked their way into my everyday built-in vocabulary. For goram shame!

Deadwood (film)

I'm midway through season three and the language stills gets me. My ex-partner talked just like that. Otherwise, Ian McShane is absolutely amazing to watch. The man has talent and range like-whoa. For reasons best left to the imagination, I'm watching the show with subtitles. It's an interesting experience. Try it some time.

Ready Player One (audio book)

I just started this last week and am loving it! I think it will eventually end up on my recommended-reads list. My current library has it shelved in young adult; my former posting, adult fiction. Anyway, I'm only on disc two, but I am enthralled by the gaming culture, technology, social problems, and the nostalgia for the late 1980s.

Eve by Anna Carey (book)

This was on my to-read list forever. I'm just over half finished with it and am largely unimpressed. But a good ending could still save it!

I've also read some rightist political stuff in the last couple months on the recommendation of a dear friend. I'm not inclined to review it, but I must admit that the tenor of certain parts of that wing is becoming easier to stomach as they discover that you get more flies with honey than with vinegar.

I'll talk about my own politics later, but I still daydream of geritocracy. I promise.

To come:

I hope to see The Mazerunner and to reread the Bhagavad Gita soon.

Media Consumption Post

I had the opportunity to see the movie Captain Phillips Tuesday night. Slow starter, no mistake there, but the ending was some of the best acting I've seen in recent memory. Seriously, it's a movie worth seeing. I know Tom Hanks won't win an Academy Award for it because the competition is so tough this year, but...you know? I think I'll pick him on my Oscar ballot anyway.

Moving on...

I'm listening to Lord of the Rings on audio in my car, courtesy of Amazon and Audible. I read the books possibly twenty times in high school and college and when I die, I hope my afterlife is reliving the years of the ring war...forever. Not that I believe in an afterlife, but for me, nice thought.

Anyway, the reason I started the listen was because it's been a few years and I missed the characters and also because I feel a relentless tug urging me to have an adventure (or something like one). I have to say, this helps...a lot.

After being away so long, I find myself noticing things that I never noticed before.

Like how weird the distances are. I sort of wonder if coming from a smallish island warped Tolkien's sense of proportion and distance a bit. Everything is...closer together than in more modern knock-offs of the genre he created.

Also, my dislike of Aragorn has faded a bit since my younger days and my deep-sucking-chest-wound for Boromir and his fate are not as keen. Well...no one is thirteen forever, right? Still, in my fantasy afterlife, I think I would expend considerable energy trying to save his unworthy ass.

I find myself gravitating more toward Gimli the dwarf than the human characters.

I myself am now and shall always be a hobbit.

Halloween 2013

I dressed up as Jane Roland from Naomi Novik's brilliant and altogether wonderful His Majesty's Dragon books. Obviously, obscure literary characters go with my job. Anyway, I was too old and brown of hair to be any other female in the series except perhaps Laurence's mother. Um...no?

So here's a list of guesses regarding my costume:

• Pirate
• Paul Revere
• Rush Revere
• George Washington
• Christopher Columbus
• Napoleon
• Colonial Soldier

The more one must explain a costume (or a joke) the less successful it is. Obviously, I expected questions and odd looks; however, I never expected people to be so certain that their guesses were right! OMG...it was pretty mind-bending. It was also pretty much awesome fun.

I already had the hat and pants and got the rest of the outfit from eBay and Goodwill, except the boots, which were on sale at TJ Maxx and will be worn again (and again...love). I walked over 11,000 steps in them with minimal pain, first time wear. Nice...neh? The jacket was a tight fit, but who knows? Maybe better next year?

Happy Halloween!

Media post - books

These are books that I am reading/have read in the last year that I believe are good enough to blanket recommend to pretty much anyone:

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (in-progress)

It's literary. It's better than the movie. It informs the reader about human nature and themselves. And unlike the movie, IMHO, it isn't just about slavery. If you like short-stories, but find they leave you wanting more...ding-ding-ding.

Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik

Of course, read the other books first, but that's sort of the point. The Temeraire novels are terrific almost all the way through. Well researched, wonderful characters. Basically, it's Horatio Hornblower with dragons. And actually, yes, it is mostly about slavery.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Another human condition-type book, but the prose is wonderful, the suspense is palpable, and it will make you (the reader) think hard about what's important in life. Uncomfortably funny, very British, but worth the read.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Best thing in modern, dark fantasy for the younger crowd. Seriously dark for my tastes, but utterly inspired from beginning to end, incredibly daring. If Gaiman, Pullman, and Nix had a literary love-child, I think it would look something like this. Bonus: the sequel is just as good, but even darker.

Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley

This is from the Flavia de Luce series of mystery novels. Start at the beginning. Please? Again, seriously anglophilic, but charming. The series takes place in post-WWII England in a quaint village with even quainter people. Flavia is...twelve, I think? She solves mysteries and thinks about poisoning people.

Defending Jacob by William Landay

A little too popular, but still worth the time. Readers of John Grisham might especially enjoy this one. I am not such a person myself. The book provides an interesting look into the justice system and into family curses.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Again, dragons, but this time in a more high-fantasy style, although definitely with modern twists. The book asks interesting questions about love, kinship, and family secrets. I am eagerly awaiting more from the author. I usually don't say that.

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Second book in the All Souls Trilogy. I feel the urge to defend this as not being paranormal romance. The author did some terrific research into history, science, and literature. She also wrote a vampire novel I actually read...and loved. But, yes, tons of romance novel here. Aching for the final volume.


So that's a year of the best books from my reading life, brought to you with memory-jogging help from Good Reads. If you read, you need a Good Reads account.

Blast from the past

I don't know how many people remember the TV show Sliders from the 1990s, but a friend of mine brought up an episode that is sort of germane to the topic of geritocracy. I know I'm dating myself here, but I really liked the show as a teenager, even if I only saw the first ... maybe four seasons. At some point, even good shows can jump the shark, right?

Anyway, it's the Sliders - Third Season episode, The Breeder, which is like a mishmash of Species and Logan's Run. The important point in the episode is that young people are assigned to be forced organ donors for the older and more powerful.

So my friend wants to know what's to stop the elderly from using us for spare parts if they have all the power?

Well...creepy as that may be, I actually think that people over the age of 90 are not really looking for spare parts. At that age, haven't most people made their peace? Also...isn't the surgical survival rate for the extremely old (hey, let's not sugarcoat here), a bit less than it is for the current people in charge (45 to 65-year-olds)?

I imagine we do have some coercive organ donation going on already, probably catering to the current age-group in power, since they are better suited recipients; however, I really don't see that spiking in a geritocracy. In my experience, immortality is not the obsession of centenarians, but rather the young who fear the loss of youth and vigor as much as they fear death. In other words, I think people my age and slightly older are more likely to prey on weaker members of society than the very aged are.

Oh...for a non-aged-related book on this train of thought try Unwind and its sequel by Neal Shusterman. I wish I had remembered that day, but it's been a while since I read it. Talk about an interesting thought experiment!